Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-01
BRAVE KATE SHELLEY.
HOW SHE RlSkED HER LIFE AND
PREVENTED A DISASTER.

HOW SHE RlSkED HER LIFE AND
PREVENTED A DISASTER.
The Courageous Iowa Girl in Hes
womanhood-Story Of July Storm in
Iss1-A Young Heroine in . Hurri.
cane.
To-day at the house of q mutual friend ]
met Nineteenth century heroine-a young
girl who wears upon her breast massive
gold medal that was presented to her by the
legislature of the state of Iowa some years ago
as a mark of its appreciation of her wonder
ful courage and presence Of mind. Tall,
erect and well proportioned, with her dark,
bright eyes, rosy cheeks and clearly-cut
features, forming a charming picture of
strong, true American womanhood, Kate
Shelley, Of Boone, Ia, Is girl that any
father or any state might be proud Of She
is to-day 81 years DID, but she was only 16
when by an act Of daring bravery she won
the admiration and gratitude of the people of
her native state and made her name famous
among them.
About dark OH July 6, 1881, a wind and
rain storm of unparalleled severity burst over
Kate Shelley's home, in the country near
Honey creek. The Des Moines river rose six
feet, and every creek was over its banks in
less than an hour. The window of this brave
girls room commanded view of the Honey
Greek railroad bridge. Peering out into the
darkness she saw, by the aid Of the vivid
flashes of lightning which at frequent intervals
Illuminated the scene, that houses barns,
fences, lumber and everything portable with.
in reach Of the food had been carried away,
while the wind swept by with fearful and
ivSor
tinued quickly and steadily to rise.
LIGHT THROUGH THE STORM.
Through the blackness and storm she saw
locomotive headlight advancing swiftly in
the direction of the BRIDGE which the flood
had borne away. A second later and the
light suddenly dropped down out of sight,
and though the roaring Of the wind and TIA
waters rendered it impossible for her to hear
the frightfri crash it must have made, she
knew that train of cars had plunged into
the abyss
Throwing an old waterproof about her
shoulders and hastily lighting a lantern she
ventured forth into the storm. The flood
was far above au roads and pathways to the
waters eage, and she soon realized that it
would be impossible to reach the wreck She
must try some other plan. A steep, rocky
bluff led up to the track. She began to ascend
it. With her clothes torn to rags and her
flesh lacerated by the thicl, growth of bushes
she at last reached the rails There was still
a small portion of the bridge left On her
hands and knees she crawled out on the re-
naming ties to the last one, and, holding OH
with one hand for her life, she leaned
out over the water as far as she could and,
waving her lantern, cried out at the top OF
her voice.
From the black gulf below there came in
answer the faint accents of the engineer, who
told her it was freight train that bed gJne
over and that, though badly injured, he had
saved himself from drowning by crawling up
on some broken timbers. He believed that all
the other train hands had perished and ad-
vised her to proceed at once to the nearest
station, warn the approaching express train
Of its danger and return with help for him.
AGAINST THE WILD TEMPEST
Retracing her steps the young heroine was
soon Fastening along the track with all the
speed she could make against the bowling
tempest toward Moingona, a small station
about one mile from Honey creek. To reach
that point she had to cross the high trestle
bridge over the Des Moines river, a distance
of 500 feet. Her trembling foot had scarcely
taken its first step upon this structure when
sudden and appalling burst of thunder, light
ming, wind and rain nearly threw her over
into the water and at the same time extin-
gushing her light. Matches would have been
powerless to relight it in such hurricane,
even if she had had them, and she was now
unable to see even a hands length before her,
except when vivid flash of lightning re-
vealed the raging waters beneath her or the
dark outlines of the swaying bridge to which
she chung. Throwing away her lantern this
n loss Av11op RI IL,
her hands and knees and thus made her wav
through the darkness and storm from tie to
tie over the perilous trestle. Reaching firm
ground again she soon covered the short re-
naming distance to the station, breathlessly
told her story and then fell in dead faint at
the station agents feet.
Succor was hastily dispatched to the suffer.
ing engineer at Honey creek. kilograms
went flying up and down he line notifying
the railroad officials that the bridge was gone.
Just one minute after the brave girl had
tainted, and while she still lay unconscious,
the express train came rushing in. When
the passengers learned of the awful accident
from which they had been saved by the in
domitable courage of one fragile girl, loving
hands took her up tenderly, chafed the torn
and bleeding limbs, laved the pallid face and
soon called her back to life again.
When the fame Of brave Kate Shelley's cx.
plot spread throughout her native state men
and women Of all classes united to do her
honor. Several subscriptions were started
for her benefit, and If money is ever an ade-
quate recompense for such heroism she has
been well rewarded for her brave conduct.
The legislature voted that medal should be
given her to commemorate her daring act
and appointed IA special committee to present
it.-Cor. Philadelphia Times.
Bad ELECTS Of brinKing Water.